The fourth-seeded Bayhawks (6-6) open the Major League Lacrosse
playoffs Aug. 27 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in
Annapolis, Md., against the top-seeded Boston Cannons (9-3).
Despite backing into championship weekend by losing three of its
last four games, Chesapeake is the de facto home team and enters
this matchup far from feeling intimidated.

"Whenever we're put in a corner," Chesapeake goalie Brian Phipps
said, "we seem to fight our way back, get on top and get fortunate
with the outcome."

That's exactly what happened last season.

A five-game losing streak midway through the 2010 campaign
forced the Bayhawks to fight for a playoff spot and prompted the
organization to replace head coach John Tucker with Kelly. After
losing the first game to Long Island, the Bayhawks won four
consecutive contests en route to a Steinfeld Cup victory over the
Lizards, the same team they lost to in the regular season.

After winning this season's first two games, the Bayhawks lost
three of their next four. A two-game winning streak quickly
followed with a two-game losing streak. And just when Chesapeake's
13-11 victory Aug. 6 over the Rochester Rattlers prompted Kelly to
say "we're starting to play our best lacrosse right now," his team
followed with a 15-9 loss last week to the Denver Outlaws in which
it allowed 12 unanswered goals.

The Bayhawks may have squandered their chance to earn a No. 2
playoff seed with that loss, but they haven't squandered their
chance to defend their championship.

"It's possible to be a fourth seed and be able to make a run at
it at the end," said Glading, who leads the team in points (38) and
assists (15). "But it's a completely different season. We can take
confidence from what happened last year, but we have to come out
and play our best lacrosse. We all know that. We don't expect
anything to happen just because it happened last year. I think
that's the right mindset to have going into it."

Several challenges have surfaced in Chesapeake's title defense.
The Bayhawks traded their leading point-scorer Peet Poillon to the
Denver Outlaws for midfielder Dan Hardy, who has just 12 points in
eight games. Veterans Buggs Combs, Shawn Nedelan and Brian Vetter
retired. Chris Garrity, the MLL's most experienced goalie, missed
four games after suffering a knee injury practicing in Denver in
June. Though Kelly called Garrity and Phipps "the two best tandem
goalies in the league," Phipps ranks last in the MLL in goals
allowed (14.14). The first six games also featured two midfield
lines that never got untracked. Combinations of Hardy, Kyle Dixon,
Ben Hunt, Michael Kimmel, Steven Brooks and Brian Carroll have
lacked chemistry.

But the Bayhawks have adjusted in various ways.

First is their consistency at attack. Glading and Ben Rubeor
provide a solid one-two punch, where they've combined for 55
points. Their chemistry roots back to their playing days at
Virginia, a luxury Glading admits serves well for an offensive unit
that didn't gel right away.

"We're familiar with what we like to do and what each other's
habits are on the field," Glading said of his on-field chemistry
with Rubeor. "When he has the ball, I know where he will be and I
think he knows where he should be when I have the ball. It
definitely helps out a lot. "

Second is Kelly's deft touch for lineup changes. He switched
Carroll and Ryan Hurley at attack. He gave rookie defenseman Bray
Malphrus his first start of the season last week. And he's
emphasized the importance of the tema's defensive midfielders,
including Jeff Reynolds, Matt Abbott, Kyle Hartzell, Jake Deane and
even Kyle Dixon, who's not known for his defense. Kelly called
Dixon "one of the best defensive middies in the league."

"We have the best athletes on the field and we've felt that all
season," he said. "Instead of putting pressure on our shooters as
much, we put the pressure on the athletes and asked them to be
athletes."

Another adjustment can be found in the team's attitude. The
Bayhawks have earned a league-wide reputation for their tough
practices. Coach and player accounts suggest they didn't panic
during the constant ups and downs of this season. They also, of
course, have last year's outcome to give them confidence it can be
replicated again.

"This is what it's all about in August," Kelly said. "We're
excited to be in the playoffs. We have an extreme amount of
experience for a championship run, from defense to offense to the
goal and faceoffs. We're just really pumped up it's August. Every
game counts. "